Lobato's fictional genesis

the representation of nature

Abstract

The short story “Era no Paraíso...” (1923), by Monteiro Lobato, is constructed as a parody of the biblical Genesis. Influenced by Darwinian theory, the narrator shows us the development of beings, especially human beings, as a “descend with modifications”, which explains their behavior in the face of life issues and, therefore, of nature. In the tale, the reaction of nature, which only occurs as a projection into the future, is closely linked to human actions; what was previously represented in a harmonious way is drastically transformed, thanks to the so-called 'progress' of humanity, in an apocalyptic scenario. In dialogue with texts by Darwin and Benjamin, the present reading privileges the analysis of the way in which the Lobatian text represents nature, adopting, in this investigation, an ecocritical bias.